Chronicles of Russian Way of Life: 1950-1990. An Unofficial Fact Book.
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Опубликован: мая 01, 2006
Write your abstract here.This is a collection of short non-fiction accounts and
essays interspersed with factual data about Russian way of life
in the second half of the 20th century. Based on his memories
and documents from his personal archive, the author strives to
give a mosaical, multi-faceted picture and recapture the
peculiar atmosphere of that time.
It helps the reader to get a better understanding of underlying
causes of the postwar nationwide gains in education, scientific
research and industrial output, especially, in the sensitive
field of novel weapons. On the other hand, the author notes a
number of sickly symptoms, which had emerged at that very
period both in consciousness of a Soviet man in the street and
in the national economy. These had very much to do with
peculiarities of Russians as a nation. “Why is there nothing
like that in other countries that are lagging behind us in
terms of intellectual potential, territorial possessions and
natural resources? Why do the inhabitants of Shuya author’s home town in the Ivanovo Region> have to plough
through indescribable mud on every street and inside every yard
every autumn (or spring)? Why do they still go to fetch water
to that very pump, from which I would drink more than half a
century ago, rather than lay on water inside the house, which
stands twenty meters away? Why is that so that now, in the
twenty first century, poor, wretched old women, looking exactly
as sorrowful and frail as in my childhood, would graze their
goats, exactly as thin and mangy? The list of the whys seems to
be endless.”
In Russian consciousness, fairness of these rebukes gets on
pretty well with a firm conviction in a peculiar nature of
Russia and in that it is impossible for Russians to be drawn
into Western spiritual values. Thus, the main character states
in one of the essays: “ we have this vogue word
“inoplanetyanye”. But let me assure you that West Europeans set
against us, and vice versa, are nothing but “persons from
another planet”. In other words, it is utterly, absolutely
impossible for us to understand them (just as for them to
understand us) – to understand in order to accept spiritually,
inwardly! This mutual understanding, about which politicians
and newsmen are twaddling today, is just unthinkable… There
are, it would seem, such universally recognized virtues as
mercy, compassion, chastity, thankfulness, patience… But the
way we look at these notions differs from theirs in principle!
That’s right! How is it so? Well, I say…”
The book enables one to get an idea of how ordinary people
would study and work, where and how they would lodge, how they
would take a cure, what meals they would have, what they would
wear, what transport they would take, what they would pay for
all of the above items and what their wages would add up to.
Importantly, all of these data were taken from such commonplace
papers as receipts, bills, invoices, tickets, etc., which the
author had preserved, rather from the official statistical
reports.
Information is given about the most popular foodstuffs and
strong drinks, about distinctive homemade dishes, about
foodstuffs that Russians would lay in for the winter.
Prices for foodstuffs, domestic appliances and transportation
fares are quoted, too. Based on this data, one can easily note,
for instance:
- that monthly rent (including public utilities rates) paid
by millions of townspeople, who previously got their family
homes for nothing, would amount to the price of 2 to 3 kg of
smoked sausage;
- that the price of a 150-km air flight would amount to
that of a bottle of vodka;
- that the price of a twelve-volume set of works of Chekhov
was a notch lower than that of a common blanket slip, etc.
“Personal Socialist obligations”, regulations for distribution
of foodstuffs and consumer goods, for assignment of a person to
a factory and other characteristic traits of Soviet way of
life are discussed in the book, too.
Bath and lavish holiday refreshments have been keynotes in
Russian way of life at all times. In contrast to matter-of-fact
enumeration of various dishes that Russians would enjoy at
festive occasions, the author pays tribute to emotional side of
these trade-mark pastimes.
Illustrations, made by Boris S. Pavlov, Artists’ Union of
Russia, are a splendid complement to the author’s succinct
style. Harmony between the content of each essay and that of a
corresponding black-and-white drawing is in many respects
accounted for by the fact that both the author and the artist
have grown up in small provincial town of Shuya and made
friends with each other from childhood.